Promise of education

An Indepth look at a list of Countries by Education Budget

For many years, education has been one of the factors driving major world economies.

It is, therefore, understandable why even the developing economies have been investing heavily in this sector.

In order to fully understand countries’ expenditure patterns on education, it is important that one begins by understanding the criteria used to arrive at this.

To begin with, a country may be deemed to be spending much on education by looking at the percentage of its Gross Domestic Product that goes on education.

Alternatively, the same expenditure may be arrived at by examining the actual amount of money the country spends per student or the actual total spent on education.

In this article, we shall review a list of countries by education budget by looking at those that spend quite heavily on this sector.

Many of us are familiar with the high literacy levels in Luxembourg and to be precise, a country can only achieve a 100% literacy rate if the country spends so much in education.

Luxembourg spends a whopping $19,049.81per student in education. One can, therefore, understand why this country has the highest starting salaries for teachers, with up to $64,042 per year.

The system requires every child to attend school up until they are 14 years and this runs from primary through tertiary levels. Coming second in the list is Switzerland and given that an average Swiss child goes to school until they are 16 years, this is a pretty good foundation for any country.

The country spends 5.4% of its GDP on education and has a literacy level that stands at 99%. Additionally, its teachers have the world’s third best starting salaries which stand at $47, 329 annually, which steadily rises to $52, 444 within ten years of service.

Norway also finds itself among the countries that spend heavily on education, and for the right reasons. Every Norwegian student accounts for up to $13,066.64, a figure which loosely translates to 7.3% of the country’s GDP and a whopping 100% literacy level.

For new teachers, one should expect a starting salary of about $33,349 per year. The United States is a leader in many things and appears education is one of those.

The country spends about $11,825.89 per student in education. 5.4% of the country’s GDP goes to education and the country boasts of a 99% literacy level.

The US is also among the countries that pay teachers handsomely, with a starting salary standing at $37, 594 per year.

Wrapping up the list of the top 5 is Austria.

On average, an Austrian student takes up $11,693.07 in education. The education system in Austria is so constituted that every child is required to attend the free public education until they are nine.

In terms of GDP, the country spends up to 6% on education.

Looking at the list of countries by education budget, what stands out is the fact that different countries have various means of investing in education to ensure that the overall literacy level of that particular country is at the highest expected standards.